Thursday, May 28, 2009

Ina's Outrageous Brownies--Barefoot Bloggers

Our second Barefoot Bloggers regular recipe pick for May is Ina's Outrageous Brownies and was selected by Eva at I'm Boring. If you came by to see how I "healthified" these babies, sorry to disappoint you but I didn't! Some things, like brownies, belong on the "don't mess with it" list. You either go big or you go home, don't try using less sugar or cutting the (gulp!) pound of butter. In this case, I went solely for the portion control plan--making a half batch, keeping a couple and getting the rest out of the house and on someone else's hips. In fact I even went so far as to take out the only healthy, redeeming part of this recipe, the walnuts. For some reason, I just I don't like the texture of nuts messing up the gooey/chewiness factor of a good brownie. To replace them, I added just what this brownie needed, more chocolate! A mix of white, milk chocolate and semi-sweet chips to make them even more decadent. (Not that they needed any help!) Otherwise I left the recipe the same. 


This recipe can be found at the Food Network here or in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (page 172). They were adapted from a recipe for "chocolate globs" in the Soho Charcuterie Cookbook.

Outrageous Brownies
Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
(Makes 20 Large Brownies)

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.



Notes/Results: As brownies go, these earn their name, they are pretty outrageous; decadent, chocolaty, and very, very good. At first I thought I might have under-baked them a bit too much, then I was convinced that I over-baked them. (Just a little brownie paranoia brought on by the "Do not over-bake!" on the recipe). Finally, once they cooled, I decided that they were just about right and just as moist, and actually even better after a day or two wrapped up in the fridge. The instant coffee powder made them nice and rich and I liked the the different kinds of chocolate chips in each bite. Even a half batch made way more than enough brownies; you need a crowd for these and they are so rich, a little goes a long way. 


Thanks Eva for a fun and delicious pick!  You can see what the other Barefoot Bloggers thought of this recipe by going to the BB site here

28 comments:

  1. I agree that this recipe is not to be tinkered with. They were fantastic... although sadly one those "moment on the lips, lifetime on the hips" indulgences.

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  2. yummy! and you added more chocolate, high five!!

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  3. vat a wonderful recipe.. m craving for them already.. with extra chocolate means wowww!!! intresting blog.. keep it up!!. and thank you for sharing..
    cheers!!

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  4. Wonderful pictures! We're in agreement about portion control and Ina's recipes. A little bit of most anything won't hurt you.

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  5. I halved it, too...yours look divine. I thought about you and wondered what you'd do with them...ha! You showed me :)

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  6. They were so tasty. Mine fell apart however when I cut them. Yours are so nice and tall! I could get seriously sick eating a whole batch of these with all that butter!

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  7. The brownie looks amazing! I get a craving now and then for a rich, chewy chocolate brownie.. in fact I have one right now...
    Be there soon!

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  8. oh...you did what I did...take out the nuts and add more chocolate.

    I also took it one step further and added a glaze and some things on top.

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  9. Wow - I'm surprised! I thought for sure you would have cut the fat somehow - but ultimately, you are right - don't eat the pan and you'll be fine!

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  10. I so agree with you about the walnuts...although I am beginning to warm up to walnuts, I don't like any type of nuts in my brownies! Looking forward to coming back and seeing future BB posts!

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  11. I agree about keeping the brownies as they are, but I would have loved to hear you found a magical way to cut the butter! The warning about over baking them threw me too. Either way, these are delicious and yours look awesome!

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  12. you definitely can't tinker with this recipe. good idea about getting them out of the house :)

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  13. these were so good, it seemed worth the extra time in gym. nice work this week!

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  14. Mmmmm I love the addition of white chocolate chips!

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  15. I sure was wondering how you'd lighten them, but your way was perfect--half a batch and give at least that away. These look so moist and delicious, though I confess I love nuts in my brownies. I'm a contrast girl--love the sweet and salty, the moist and cruncy. Of course, more chocolate isn't shabby either.

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  16. a pound of butter and a half dozen eggs? GIMME. I'm drooling.

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  17. Deb, that was a great idea to add some white chocolate chips to the recipe. They look divine.

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  18. You are so right - I wouldn't change much about this recipe, so my only hope was to get them out of the house pronto! But when I need a killer brownie, I think this might be The One. Yours look really gooey and delicious! (oh, and I am totally with you on the nuts-in-brownies issue!)

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  19. I agree, you gotta go big or go home.

    I just had more and now I am going to throw it out. My hips are angry!

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  20. These look scrumptious!
    By the way, I just completed an exercise geared at getting to know more about food bloggers. Maybe you've done it before. If not, I passed it on to you. Check out my blog to see how it works.
    Cheers!

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  21. i'm not even sure you COULD "healthify" these with anything short of magic. maybe like... yogurt or something. i also left out walnuts. they have no place in brownies. the only crunch i want in my brownie are the crispy edges (i'm the prime candidate for those corner-brownie pans or muffin tin brownies) and more chocolate chips. good job!

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  22. Your brownies look wonderful!!!! How I wish mine would have turned out that way!

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  23. I was a little scared when I opened your post about how you were going to change (butcher) these brownies and try to make them healthy. I am so glad you didn't use substitutes for the sugar and butter and all.... I might have cried a little if you did!

    Great job! Yours look delicious!

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  24. This has been following me around all and I know it won't leave me alone until I bake and eat it! 8-)

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  25. I agree, brownies are sacred, not to be tampered with.

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  26. Looking at yours, I'm convinced I overbaked mine. They look scrumptious...definitely a good idea to share them!

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  27. Yes, I agree on the portion control. I usually try to send off my goodies to my friends ;-) And we were lucked out on this one. No brownies in the freezer for me although we made the whole batch!

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  28. i love love love this recipe! and adding more chocolate to these brownies never hurt anyone!

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